What to wear...

...searched the archives, couldn't really find anything pertaining to this topic.

I've got a job interview coming up soon and I'm really not sure what to wear. Started the gig I'm working now in college and never really had a formal interview.

The job is in sports and is at a publication which I perceive to be fairly laid back. Is it possible to overdress?

I've got the wedding/funeral suit covered and it's a damn fine looking suit but I think it may be a bit too much.

Would a simple jacket/slacks combo cover it?

Any employers got tips out there for a prospective employee?

 

You can't overdress for a job interview.

 

Wedding/funeral suit probably isn't necessary.

This topic comes up from time to time, and I think the consensus seems to be that there is no hard-and-fast rule on what to wear. But it's hard to go wrong with a button-down, tie, slacks and some nice shoes. I don't think you want to look stiff, but you do want to look like you take the interview seriously. Toss a sport coat into that ensemble if you want, and you should be set.

Good luck, G-Spot.

 

If it's not the Wall Street Journal or something, what he said.

 

A relatively casual skirt and blouse should do the trick.

 

Wear a suit.

Period.

I have worn a suit on every interview I've been on. Sometimes, I've been overdressed (the SE in Birkenstocks was a highlight). But I have also interviewed with very formally-dressed folks, and I could tell they appreciated my efforts to look as presentable as possible.

Does that solely get you a job? Of course not. But the way the market is today (visualize approx. 600 cattle smooshing together to go through a single narrow cow chute) anything to differentiate you is a bonus.

 

I've worn a suit to every job interview. Only twice have there been any comments about it.

In my early 20s before I became more clothes-conscious I wore a JCPenney special and the SE at one of the nation's biggest papers made a snooty comment about it. It was, in fact, a cheap suit and looked like a cheap suit. In my late 20s I unwittingly went completely the other way. This was in 1988 and Neiman-Marcus was having a hell of a sale and I paid $350 for a very nice, conservative navy suit that the salesman assured me was an incredible deal. A woman I was seeing at the time called it "an IBM executive suit," and I'm still not sure if that was a compliment or not. I no longer have the suit because like an idiot I put a conspicuous hole in the jacket one day while smoking and drinking, so I threw it out. But for some reason I saved the nice wooden hanger that came with it, and now that I know more about clothes I could just about shoot myself every time I see that hanger in my closet. The hanger says "Oxxford Clothiers." Oxxford makes its suits largely by hand in Chicago, and today you'd pay about $3,000 for that suit. GWB wears Oxxford suits.

The current job interview suit was bought used at a consignment shop for $300 about 10 years ago and is probably the equal of the Oxxford. Someone had it custom made, but it fit like it was custom made for me. I showed up at a job interview and the SE said, "You are not allowed to dress better than me." But he hired me anyway.

 

Actually, I think he's dead. If it makes you feel better.

 

i second that

 

Slacks and a sportcoat would be OK if I was interviewing.